Rugby News
Crusaders win 16-12 for 32 straight play-off victories in Christchurch
Chiefs were minor premiers but lose third consecutive decider
The Crusaders are again the kings of Super Rugby Pacific after consigning the Chiefs to a third-straight loss in the title decider.
Playing in Christchurch, the Crusaders claimed a 32nd successive play-off home match victory over three decades of Super Rugby as they downed the Chiefs 16-12 in Saturday’s final.
Continue reading...St Helens 18-4 Leeds
Cross, Dagnall and Sailor run in tries for Saints
St Helens potentially breathed new life into their season and quietened some of the noise surrounding their inconsistency with a victory over Leeds Rhinos that could easily represent a watershed moment for the remainder of 2025.
Paul Wellens’ side have been some distance from the standards many expect from the most successful team in Super League history, with the Saints some way adrift of the leading pack at the halfway stage of the season. They were expected to fall short here too against a Leeds side that once again look like title contenders.
Continue reading...Have you been paying attention to the football, athletics, golf, rugby union, horse racing, darts and ice hockey?
Continue reading...Early days in a Lions camp can be nervy and everyone wants to play in Friday’s first match but Argentina provide a tough test
Every single member of the British & Irish Lions squad is in the perfect sweet spot at the moment. Blair Kinghorn aside, they all arrived into camp with a spring in their step and a smile on their face because their dreams have been realised. Speaking from experience, it is amazing how quickly you can leave national allegiances at the door.
At this stage, there is no sense of what the Test team will be, no division, or feeling that you have to make do with being a midweek dirt-tracker – the thing you are probably most nervous about is who your roommate will be. You know it will be someone from a different country and my first roommate was Keith Earls. As the youngest member of the 2009 squad, he was responsible for looking after the Lions mascot and I felt like I needed to mind him. I soon realised there are few as competitive as Keith and he did not need minding at all.
Continue reading...Flying winger brushes off allegiance jibes and cannot wait for Australia after a testing Lions tour in 2021
Duhan van der Merwe does not want to shake hands. It is not that the hulking Scotland winger is being rude – he is polite to a fault – but after a gruelling gym session the British & Irish Lion has blisters as big as golf balls. A fist bump – a touch daunting given the size of his biceps – must suffice.
Van der Merwe’s war wounds are the first indication that public perception about him can be misleading and there are many to follow in the ensuing half-hour. From an impassioned response to accusations he is a “SpringJock”, to discussing why he runs roughshod over England once a year, Van der Merwe is illuminating company.
Continue reading...Veteran flyhalf James O’Connor has missed selection in an extended 36-man Wallabies squad for next month’s Test against Fiji in Newcastle.
XV features Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith
Tadhg Furlong also has the chance to prove his fitness
Maro Itoje will captain the British & Irish Lions for the first time in their non-cap international against Argentina in Dublin on Friday.
The England skipper Itoje leads a starting XV that features Marcus Smith at full-back and will be directed by England half-backs Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith.
This story will update
Continue reading...Munster leads Maroons to glory in first match as captain
The first time the teams played at Optus Stadium the Blues won 38-6 in 2019. The last time, the Blues won 44-12 to level the 2022 series. Home from home.
What does Cameron Munster make of captaining Queensland? “It’s everything. As a kid you always wanted to play for Queensland and I never thought I’d have the opportunity to captain this beautiful team and this beautiful state. So to be able to do that tonight, I’m very proud. I can’t wait to lead them out.” Beautiful.
Continue reading...Fly-half is determined to enjoy his rugby again after injury-disrupted time in France but his international future remains up in the air
If either call were to come, does Owen Farrell want to go on tour with England or the British & Irish Lions this summer? It is both the question that most intrigues and the one that he steadfastly does not answer following his return to Saracens.
“There’s nothing for me to do other than concentrate on getting myself back here and getting myself in the best place I can and everything else is hypothetical,” is a typical example of his response. There were a number of others in the 20 minutes spent in his company, back at the StoneX stadium after a torrid season with Racing 92, but all gave little insight into what his reaction might be if Steve Borthwick or his dad, Andy Farrell, wish to call him up for either England’s summer tour of Argentina and the USA, or the Lions’ trip to Australia.
Continue reading...Champagne tries and offloads to retired greats and future stars, here are the highlights of the 2024-25 season
1) Leinster 34-37 Northampton, 3 May. One of the great ram-raids.
Continue reading...Fly-half relishes end to his 10-year wait for a league title before homing in on British & Irish Lions challenge
Had Handrè Pollard done his homework he might have known what was coming – for Finn Russell has previous with intercepts when attacking Twickenham’s south stand. It was playing that way that he picked off Owen Farrell’s pass before streaking clear in the madcap 38-38 draw between England and Scotland in 2019. And he was at it again on Saturday, coming up with the decisive moment in Bath’s dogged Premiership final victory over Leicester.
On this occasion he did not finish off the try himself – you suspect he probably could have – instead flinging a nonchalant pass inside to the onrushing Max Ojomoh. In a final short on champagne moments, it put the fizz in Bath’s performance, extending their lead to 20-7 before a second penalty of the match proved pivotal in ensuring the 29-year wait for a Premiership title was over.
Continue reading...Bath ended their 29 year wait with victory at Twickenham
4 mins. Leicester win said scrum and there’s another one a minute later after more poor Batch handling. This second one brings down the full malevolence of the Tigers pack to crumble the Bath eight and bring about a penalty. Pollard pings a beautiful touchfinder deep into attacking territory.
2 mins. The crafty kick off is very nearly gathered by Cracknell, but the ball ends up pinging about a bit before Spencer gets his hands on it and punts it away. There’s a few carries by Leicester in their own half before a knock-on brings about the first scrum of the match.
Continue reading...Having previously swapped rugby union for NFL, Wade shares his excitement for a fresh challenge after a ‘humbling’ start to life in rugby league
For a man who has done it all in rugby union and experienced the bright lights of the NFL, the glint in Christian Wade’s eye when asked what drew him to a new challenge with Wigan suggests this was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.
It has been some fortnight for one of the Premiership’s all-time greats. His farewell appearance for Gloucester – and perhaps in rugby union altogether – ended with victory against Northampton and two tries. The second of those was a sensational long-range finish in the dying embers of that game which would have caught the eye of any Wigan supporters keenly checking out what their new signing is capable of.
Continue reading...Reset will promote ‘gladiatorial nature’ of club game
Prem targets playing in US in run-up to 2031 World Cup
Premiership Rugby has rebranded England’s top division as the Gallagher Prem as part of a wide-ranging reboot that includes plans to take a fixture to the United States in the coming years and kicking off next season on a Thursday night.
Unperturbed by the existential threat posed by the R360 breakaway league, PRL on Saturday relaunches the Premiership on the day that Bath face Leicester in the final at Twickenham.
Continue reading...Rival coaches Johann van Graan and Michael Cheika have rebuilt their sides along similar lines but Bath are favourites
It has been a while but the old firm of English club rugby are finally back. Between 1978 and 1997 Bath and Leicester collectively won 15 national knockout trophies and over the first 15 years of the league’s existence they claimed 12 titles between them. Their reunion at Twickenham is akin to those other 90s chart-toppers, Oasis and Blur, dusting down their favourite guitars and appearing on stage together.
The temptation is to dive head first into a foaming tub of nostalgia and wallow in the rekindled rivalry. If anyone had predicted in 1996 that Bath would not win another domestic title in the next 29 years they would have been laughed out of the convivial old Rec clubhouse. Leicester, similarly, thought the ABC Club and the Tigers’ steely winning mentality would live for ever.
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